Sir Keir Starmer has been left red-faced as he refused to pledge to completing the northern leg of HS2 after slamming Rishi Sunak for cancelling it earlier this week.
The Labour leader claimed the government had taken “a wrecking ball” to the finances of the operation and described their handling of it as a “fiasco”.
Mr Sunak scrapped the long-awaited northern section of the high-speed rail – from Birmingham to Manchester – during the Conservative party conference, hosted in the latter city.
The PM faced widespread backlash for the decision from Manchester businesses and even several former Conservative prime ministers including Boris Johnson, Theresa May and David Cameron.
But Sir Keir refused to say whether he would be able to continue the HS2 project if he took the reigns of power, saying: “I can’t stand here and commit to reversing that decision”.
A Labour government would be “laser-focused on growing our economy in all parts of the country – that means we need better connectivity,” he added.
He said he was already “talking to local mayors” about how to create transport links between northern cities.
As Mr Sunak on Wednesday cancelled the northern leg of HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester, he claimed it would save £36bn which would instead be spent on various road and rail schemes across the country.
Speaking ahead of the Labour party conference in Liverpool, Sir Keir suggested Mr Sunak’s cancellation of the plan was the final straw for the huge infrastructure project.
He told ITV News Central: “They’ve just blown a massive hole through it and are about to start cancelling contracts, releasing the land, reconfiguring Euston.”
HS2 aimed to cut journey times, as well as create more space on the rail network and provide jobs outside London.
The initial budget of £33bn eventually ballooned to £71bn, a figure based on 2019 prices and still does not take into account the large amount of inflation in the last four years.
In his speech announcing the cancellation Mr Sunak said that east-west links were more important than north-south.
£12bn has been earmarked to “better connect” Manchester with Liverpool, he said.
According to this week’s Techne UK findings, the Conservatives lag 19 points behind Labour – with 26 percent to their 45 percent, dropping a point from the week prior.
Mr Sunak had insisted that HS2 would reach Euston in London, but faced further issues when it was revealed private funding would be necessary for this materialise, according to the BBC.
If cash is not put forward by private funds, the high-speed line will only run from Birmingham to Old Oak Common in the capital’s western suburbs – meaning passengers travelling to central London would have to change.
Later on Thursday, the Department for Transport said: “As we have always planned, the new line will finish at Euston — that has not changed.”
“It is simply wrong to talk down the scale and benefits of this regeneration . . . there is already support and interest from the private sector,” the department said. “Ministers have had discussions with key partners since the announcement and the transport secretary will be meeting with the Euston Partnership in the coming weeks.”
